1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an device-identifying system, an device-identifying method, a controlling device, and a controlled device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a controlling device and a controlled device capable of communicating with each other via a network, and also relates to an device-identifying system and an device-identifying method in which an device can identify another device with which the device is communicating.
2. Description of the Related Art
A mechanism has been realized to allow devices connected to a network to communicate with each other, so that an device controls another device in communication via the network, obtains and displays the state of the device in communication, and receive contents distributed from a server on the network. Recently, in order to use this with devices of various manufacturers, a common mechanism called Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) is coming into use.
For example, when an device placed in front of a user is controlled via a network with this kind of mechanism, it is necessary to display a list of all of the devices connected to the network and allow a user to select a target device from the list. Therefore, when many devices are connected to the network, a user has to select a target device from the device list including many devices, which is a troublesome operation for the user.
Moreover, the device list includes all of the devices capable of communicating via the network regardless of the installed locations, and further, the names of the devices shown in the device list are irrelevant to the locations where the devices are installed. Therefore, the user has to previously register the name of each device in order to display the names which are easy for the user to understand during the selection operation of device.
In view of such circumstances, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-115196 suggests a mechanism for causing a transmitting device to transmit an identification start signal in infrared light including address information of the transmitting device and causing a receiving device to receive the identification start signal and send a reply in response thereto via a network based on the address information, so that the transmitting device identifies the receiving device located in the direction in which the infrared light is transmitted, using the directivity of the infrared light.